Tuesday 28 March 2017

Robot Wars Episode Four Recap

To quote pit reporter Angela Scanlon, this episode was "the battle of the spinners."

LET THE WARS BEGIN

Battle 1

Supernova Vs Wyrm Vs Frostbite Vs Hi5

Supernova is armed with a spinning disc and has competed before in the old wars.  They've achieved some success reaching the heat final in Series 6 and being runners-up in the Third World Championship.  They've also experienced a lot of failure.  In Series 5 and Series 7, they went out in the first round.  They competed last year, but bad driving sent them straight into the pit.

Wyrm were armed with a lifting wedge.  They competed last year with the wooden robot Overdozer.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  They competed with a WOODEN ROBOT.  Unsurprisingly, they went home in a bin bag.  Lesson here? Don't compete with a WOODEN ROBOT.  Thankfully, the team had learned from their mistakes and had entered a metal robot.  Although, Wyrm had very limited armour. But all credit to the Wyrm team, they were very good sports.

Thirdly, there was Frostbite who had a spinning bar and Hi5 who had a lifting arm.

3...2...1...ACTIVATE

Supernova was the only robot that really did anything in this fight.  They ripped away Frostbite's poor armour, exposing their vulnerable innards.  Supernova's power cannot be understated. Their 22kg spinning disc sheared away Frostbite's 6mm polycarbonate armour, also damaging one of their tyres.

Hi5 also went out early.  I'm not quite sure who took them out really.  It looked like they had just broken down.  As for Wyrm, poor driving sent them crashing into the arena wall, knocking themselves out.  Supernova were the obvious winners with Frostbite staying alive long enough to go through.  But wow.  The power of Supernova's spinning disc was just awesome.

Battle 2

Crushtacean vs Ironside 3 Vs Pulsar Vs Apex

Crushtacean are another robot veteran, although they've never achieved any real success.  They're modelled on a crab and are armed with claws, which are controlled by a pair of motion-sensor claws.  They were still driven by the same father and son team as they were in the original Robot Wars and it was crazy seeing the little boy all driven up.

Ironside 3 had also competed last year, going out in their heat.  They had a mighty bar spinner and a newly added self-righting mechanism.  Their opponents were old rivals Pulsar who were grand finalists Pulsar who took out Ironside on their way to the final.  Pulsar were armed with a lethal drum spinner, which spun at 8700 RPM.  Finally, there was Apex who had a metre-long, 37kg spinning bar.

Against three spinners, Crushtacean never stood a chance.  Their weak aluminium armour was no defense against Ironside's spinning bar.  Meanwhile, Pulsar slammed into Apex who were looking very impressive up until that moment.  Pulsar's spinning drum stopped Apex in their tracks.  They were immobilised.  And for good measure, Pulsar also slammed into Ironside 3, but Pulsar and Ironside were through to the head to heads.

Head to Heads

Supernova Vs Frostbite

Although this battle started slowly, it soon heated up.  Supernova was awesome in this fight.  They completely demolished Frostbite.  Taking out their weapon.  Their armour.  Their wheels.  Pretty much everything.  Frostbite couldn't recover and were rendered immobile.  This battle actually reminded me of when Hypno-Disc destroyed Splinter all the way back in the Fourth Wars.

This fight was regarded as one of the most destructive in Robot Wars history.

Having said that, Supernova's sheer power also caused it problems.  The chain for their spinning disc came off.  Would this cause problems later on?

Ironside 3 Vs Pulsar

Considering that Pulsar took Ironside out last series, this was a grudge match.  This battle began with some bad driving by Ironside.  Firstly, they drove into the CPZ and then onto the floor flipper.  This allowed Pulsar to get some good hits in, but Pulsar also had driving problems.  Just like Ironside, they also drove into the CPZ and were attacked by Sir Killalot.

What the problem with Pulsar is that their spinning drum is too low mounted.  This stopped them from causing any serious damage.  Meanwhile, Ironside 3 began attacking them, stopping their drive on one side. It was quite funny really.  Pulsar kept hopping up one wheel, as if it were dancing across the arena.  And then this is where the controversy started.

Ironside 3 believe that Pulsar was immobile and was being counted out, and thus they didn't finish Pulsar off.  However, this wasn't the case at all and the decision went to the judges.  The judges realised that a technical fault had caused the Ironside team to incorrectly see the 10 second countdown.  Because of this, the judges decided the fight was a draw and awarded both teams 2 points.

Pulsar Vs Supernova

This was a short but sweet fight.  Both robots powered up to full speed, before Supernova slammed into Pulsar.  Supernova was sent flying away.  The shockwave was so powerful that I felt it through my TV.  It was so destructive that Supernova was taken out in one blow.  Their spinning disc was no match for Pulsar's spinning drum.  This head-on collision completely immobilised Supernova.

Intermission

To break up the Robot Wars fights, Dara O'Briain or Angela Scanlon interview one of the judges about advances in the robotics industry.  Generally, I don't cover these segments, as I'm only interested in the robot battles, but this intermission was very interesting.

Angela Scanlon interviewed judge and chartered engineer Dr Lucy Rogers who explained the best materials to construct robots out off.  Firstly, there was High Density Polyethylene (HDPE,) a form of plastic, which chopping boards are made out of.  This means they're good at absorbing energy from axe blows, but are useless against spinners.

Next there was wood, which is useless in the arena, but good for prototypes.  *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer *COUGH COUGH*

Then we moved onto the metals.  Firstly, there is aluminium.  Aluminium is popular for armour, due to how light it is, but if you want something stronger, then you should go for mild steel.  Mild steel is much more affordable than Hard Ox, although not as durable.  Lucy said that if she were to build a robot then she would use a combination of Hard Ox and HDPE.

Frostbite vs Ironside 3

Even though Frostbite were supposed to compete here, they just couldn't repair the damage they had sustained in their fight with Supernova.  This meant that they had to withdraw and Wyrm were reinstated.

Wyrm was systematically destroyed by Ironside 3.  Firstly, Ironside sheared off their lifting wedge.  And then one wheel.  And then the other.  And then the armament.  By the end of the fight, there was very little left.  A convincing win for Ironside 3.

Pulsar Vs Wyrm

Whilst repairing Wyrm, the team found that they had botched it somewhere.  The front controls now reversed the robot and vice versa.  This was hardly a good start against a powerful robot like Pulsar.

Things didn't get any better as Wyrm's lifting wedge fell off straight away.  However, Pulsar faced their own problems, as their robot began smoking, as their drive motors began smoking.  However, Wyrm's bad driving sent them into Dead Metal's clutches, which was enough to immobilise them.  Soon afterwards, Wyrm was thrown into the skip.

Supernova Vs Ironside 3

Ironside 3 played this battle very cleverly.  They targeted Supernova's exposed tyres and avoided their spinning disc.  This tactic work, as Supernova could not recover from the first few powerful slams.  Their wheels were buckled and broken and their chain broke again.  And then the sparks started flying.  Ironside 3 were through to the heat final, but all credit to Supernova.  They were a good machine.

Ironside 3 Vs Pulsar

Although Pulsar were well-armoured and had a powerful weapon, they've been plagued by technical problems.  These technical problems seriously hindered them in this fight.  Ironside 3 immediately got the upper hand by taking out one of Pulsar's wheels.  Then another hit on a sweet spot completely immobilised Pulsar.

Next week is the last heat before the grand final.  Judging from the trailers, we're going to see last year's runner-ups and winner, Apollo and Carbide, having a grudge match.  It looks like it's going to be a cracker.

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